Stanford, California, USA

Dedicated to the life sciences and human health, the Stanford University Sarafan ChEM -H  and the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute designed by Ennead Architects is a campus facility complex split into co-equal buildings connected by walkways and bridges.

For its design, the Stanford University Sarafan ChEM -H  and the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute has been awarded an Honorable Mention at the 2023 American Architecture Awards from The Chicago Athenaeum and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.

The two buildings surround an elliptical courtyard – a central communal space that forms the social heart of the two Institutes, which are now purposefully co-located and engaged in active dialogue.

A common interior “living room” surrounds the ellipse, with a continuous exterior terrace on the second floor wrapping around the garden courtyard below.

The design creates outdoor spaces that are inviting, inspiring, and interactive.

The building’s massing and activated ground floor plan take advantage of its pivotal location on campus by creating pathways that connect to the School of Medicine and the Science and Engineering Quad.

As a result, the building becomes a crossroads to these increasingly convergent disciplines of mind, brain and behavior, bioengineering and the complex chemistry of life – opening the way to discoveries that will improve human health and eradicate disease.

These spaces are accessible and appealing for extending conference and social functions beyond the walls of the building.

The ground floor is conceived as porous and open to the surrounding campus.

The building’s central location allows the new building to be a meeting place for lunch, coffee, and evening drinks, providing researchers who have spent long hours in the lab a hangout spot to relax and interact in a less formal setting.

A pub at the most active corner of the site anchors the building to its context and provides an area of respite and informality.

Project: Stanford University Sarafan ChEM -H (Chemistry, Engineering & Medicine for Human Health) and the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute
Architects: Ennead Architects LLP.
Design Team: Richard Olcott, Timothy Hartung, Stephen PD Chu, Steven Peppas, Craig McIlhenny, Bernardo Almonte, Gary Anderson, Billy Erhard, Corinna Ganssloser, Kyo -Young Jin, Jazzy Li, Marcel Merwin, David Monnar, Paul Scrugham, Fernando Suarez, Na Sun, Mark Talbot, Minh Tran, Melanie Weismiller, Desiree Wong, Dunia Wong Richard Olcott, Timothy Hartung, Stephen PD Chu, Steven Peppas, Craig McIlhenny, Bernardo Almonte, Gary Anderson, Billy Erhard, Corinna Ganssloser, Kyo -Young Jin, Jazzy Li, Marcel Merwin, David Monnar, Paul Scrugham, Fernando Suarez, Na Sun, Mark Talbot, Minh Tran, Melanie Weismiller, Desiree Wong, and Dunia Wong
General Contractor: Whiting -Turner Contracting Company
Client: Stanford University
Photographers: Bruce Damonte and Lloyd Ranola